Canterbury slipped to their fourth consecutive National League 3 South defeat when they went down 30-20 to Barking at Merton Lane on Saturday.

If entertainment value is the mark of a good match, then this mid-table clash, in which the lead changed hands five times, ticked most of the boxes.

With a reshuffled back line, where young centre Jack Davis made a competent debut, the performance was several notches up on the previous week’s offering.

However, each time the city side established control, the impetus just as quickly went and Barking made them pay with five tries.

A Ben Thomas penalty goal, followed by tries from Mike Melford and Luke Harding

held out early promise of a victory but from that position of relative comfort, Canterbury went downhill and were hauled back by two unconverted tries.

When prop Mark Livesey was yellow carded just before the interval, Barking’s forwards destroyed the next scrum to win a penalty try, converted by Jenkins and take the lead for the first time.

Canterbury shrugged off their numerical handicap at the start of the second half and Harding darted through for his second try. Gert De Kock added the extra points.

Barking responded with a well worked try but a De Kock penalty saw the lead change hands yet again.

Despite losing wing Nick Fraser to a yellow card, centre Sean Flannery’s touchdown and a late Jenkins penalty had seen Barking home.